Mason Read online

  I let my eyes roam over his body. He was fit and broad; he wasn't as big as Carter or Declan, but he had a hard chest that narrowed down to his hips. There was a patch of his stubble that didn't grow in on the right side because of his scar, and his eyes seemed to glint with something dangerous, but he was still beautiful. He looked like one of those men you shouldn't bring home to meet the parents, but I felt in my heart there was something good in him. Something that he didn't let many people see.

  “You're staring,” Axe said, his voice sounded like two stones rubbing together. He eyed me from the side. “What?”

  “You any good at this game?” I asked, ignoring his question. I threw back the shot of tequila in my hand. I normally didn't drink tequila, but Diego had slipped it into my hand as I was walking by the table they were sitting at, and who was I to refuse free liquor. Diego didn't drink, but he sure did like to watch everyone else get debauched.

  “I'm decent.”

  He threw a dart and it stuck a little to the left of the bullseye.

  I whistled through my teeth. “Care to make things interesting?”

  Axe looked at me. He didn't smile, but I could see the glint in his eye that said, 'Challenge accepted'. “Okay.”

  “Highest score gets twenty bucks, and loser buys the next round,” I said, throwing back another shot of tequila that Diego had slipped me as he walked by on his way to the bathroom.

  “You are so fucking on.”

  He retrieved the darts that he had already thrown and handed them to me. I lined up and let the first one loose. It hit the dart board just to the right of the bullseye. I threw the next one, hitting the bullseye straight in the middle, and then the third hit next to the second.

  “Mmm, I can smell victory now.”

  “Don't go collecting your money just yet,” Axe quipped.

  “Was that a joke?” I asked, nearly tumbling off of my stool as I sat back down—and I couldn't even blame my clumsiness on the alcohol. “Ladies and gentlmen, Axe has jokes!”

  Axe shook his head at me, and threw the first dart. Then the second, then the third.

  “Oooh, outer ring, sweetheart. Give me my twenty.”

  Axe scowled, and it was so fucking sexy when he did that. I could kiss that stupid scowl off his face. Shit, get a few more shots in me and I may do just that.

  “Double or nothing?”

  “I have a better idea,” I said, standing from the stool. I wasn't drunk, but I was definitely starting to feel the tequila. I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so the alcohol was going straight through me. “I win and you go on a proper date with me.”

  Axe's eyes bugged out of his head. “And if I win?”

  “Whatever you want.”

  “One night of hot, rough sex and nothing more.”

  A shiver went up my spine. “You got yourself a deal.”

  “Not darts though,” Axe said, walking away. “Pool.”

  We played a round of pool while our friends watched—or rather not watched. Edward and Caleb had slipped out to go have sex in the bathroom; Diego and Carter kept nibbling on each other at the table like they were each other's meal. I flirted shamelessly with Axe, but none of my best cheesy pick up lines were working. He was making it his life mission to ignore my come ons.

  “You know, Axe, with an ass like that....”

  Axe sank the eight ball, and looked at me triumphantly. “Looks like I win.”

  “I guess you do,” I replied, laying my stick on the empty table.

  I was really looking forward to going on a date with Axe, but a night of hot, sweaty sex sounded just as fun.

  Axe looked at me with concern. “We don't have to do this if you don't want to.”

  “I do,” I said too quickly.

  Axe looked at me skeptically. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah,” I said, grabbing some pretzels from a nearby bowl. “Who would pass up a night with you?”

  I saw the corners of Axe's mouth twitch. I have yet to see a full blown smile, and that was what I was waiting for. I would bet the twenty dollars I had just won on his smile being glorious.

  “Do you want to leave now? Or wait a little?” I asked, trailing a finger between his pecs.

  Axe cleared his throat and stepped back. “Wait a little. I told Mills I would kick his ass at pool.”

  I sauntered past him, giving his bicep a squeeze as I went. His skin was hard and rough under my fingers, and dammit I wanted to lick every inch of it. I found myself imagining licking his bicep, and I had to put the brakes on that before I got a chub in the middle of the bar.

  Okay......no more tequila for me.

  Tequila was sort of my kryptonite. It made me horny and—fucking Diego!

  I turned and found Diego laughing at the table. I marched over there and threw myself in a chair.

  “You did that on purpose!” I accused, looking at Diego bury his head in Carter's arm. Carter was looking down at Diego with fondness and concern.

  “What did you do, D?” Carter asked.

  “Gave Mase tequila,” he said between laughing. “It makes him extra horny.”

  “Don't tell him that!” I replied, swatting Diego's arm.

  Carter laughed. “Baby, leave Mason alone.”

  Diego looked up at his boyfriend. “Fine, but I helped Mason get what he wanted,” he said, gesturing to where Mills and Axe were playing pool.

  “No. I got a one night stand.”

  “Are you okay with that?” Edward asked, sliding into the seat next to me. Both he and Caleb looked flushed, and there was a hickey forming on Edward's neck. Edward pulled Caleb down into his lap. “I mean you asked the guy on a date, and he said no.”

  “He doesn't date,” I said, defensively. “Like anyone. Ever.”

  “Yeah, but you do,” Diego said. “You like the whole wining and dining. You like the romance.”

  I just shrugged. Sure, I liked romance, and dinners, and getting to know your partners, but I was no newbie when it came to one night stands. I did go to college. Sure, I wanted to date Axe, to get to know him, but if a one night stand was all that I was going to get, then I would take it. I would take anything he offered me.

  Chapter Three

  Axe

  This was a shitty idea.

  I knew this would be a horrible idea from the minute I mentioned it. Mason deserved more than a one night stand. He deserved flowers and dinners and romance, and all that other sappy shit that couples do. I don't know what sappy shit specifically—I had never been the romantic type. My ex-girlfriend, Tina and I had spent our date nights watching a movie on my couch, and then fucking our brains out. Yeah, real fucking romantic. Mason deserved more than that, but I couldn't give it to him. I was not the dating type. I knew I was going to grow old alone, having filled my prime with strange women and men just to keep myself occupied. That's how it has been since I broke up with Tina seven years ago, and that's how it would be until I'm buried six feet under. I've accepted it. It was my norm.

  “Are you ready?” Mason asked.

  We were all sitting at the table, laughing and drinking. Well, everyone else was laughing, I was only drinking. Mason had come to sit next to me when I finished getting my ass handed to me at pool by Grizz. He would lean into me from time to time, and I found myself inhaling his scent: mint and lemon.

  This is a bad fucking idea.

  I never inhaled someone's scent before. Shit, no one has affected me the way Mason has. I never thought about someone as much as I thought about him. What the hell was happening to me?

  Get a grip, Knox.

  “Axe?” Mason looked up at me, his eyes were heavy from alcohol, but there was something in the teal depths that looked a lot like lust. “Are you ready?”

  “Are you drunk?”

  I was not going to take advantage of a drunk Mason. I usually had no problem taking someone home who was drunk. But I had a problem with fucking Mason if he wasn't sober.

  “Not really,” he said, but I could tel
l that was a lie.

  I had seen him downing tequila shots and beers throughout the night.

  “How about a raincheck?” I asked, taking his hand off his beer bottle and replacing it with a glass of water.

  “You're wimping out on me.” Mason's bottom lip jutted out, and I had to think really hard in order to not nip at it with my teeth. “You don't want to have sex with me?”

  Everyone at the table was looking at us. I scowled and then growled at each of them for good meausre. “Mind your business,” I told them.

  “I do,” I whispered to Mason, so no one else could hear me. “I just don't want to take advantage of you.”

  “Pfft,” Mason replied, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. “I didn't want to have sex with you anyway.”

  God, he was so fucking adorable when he pouted.

  “Hey, Mase,” Edward said, standing with his fiancé. “How about we go home?”

  “Fine,” Mason replied, standing. He tripped as he got up. I reached out to steady him by wrapping my fingers around his waist. He pulled his hips out of my hands and frowned down at me. “Hands off the merchandise.”

  I put my hands up in surrender, and looked at Grizz helplessly. He just chuckled.

  “You're going to have your hands full with that one.” Grizz cocked an eyebrow at me, and then looked at Mason's retreating back. “You like him, don't you? Not in the way you like the randoms you fuck, you actually like him.”

  I rolled my eyes at Grizz and took the beer Mason had been drinking. I downed the contents in two seconds flat.

  I fucking hate it when Grizz is right.

  ~ ~ ~

  Grizz and Mills both had appointments so I found myself eating in The Diner alone, nursing a bitch of a hangover. Someone slid into the seat across from me, but I didn't have the strength to look up from my coffee cup to see who it was.

  “I wanted to apologize,” Mason's voice came from in front of me.

  I looked up to see that he looked almost as miserable as I felt. He ordered a coffee as Betty-Anne walked by.

  “Apologize for what?” I asked, taking a gulp of my coffee.

  “Last night. I didn't mean to act like that. Diego kept slipping me tequila even though he knows how I get—”

  “How do you get?” I asked curiously.

  “Sooo not talking about that right now.” He shook his head. “Anyway, the bet still stands. You owe me.”

  “Mason,” I said miserably, half of my brain was telling me to tell him this was a horrible idea, and the other half was telling that half to shut up. “Forget about the bet.”

  “Nope,” he replied, popping the 'P' in the word. “I want this. You want this. Why not do this?”

  “Because you want to date,”

  Mason shook his head. “Sure, but you don't, so this is the next best thing.”

  “Mason.”

  “Axe.”

  He blinked his eyes at me innocently. God, fuck, why did he have to be so fucking cute? Why was he making me feel like everything I knew was turning upside down?

  “Stop being an ass, and say yes,” he said.

  The corner of my mouth twitched.

  “And there's another mini-smile, folks,” Mason said, clapping. “One day we may see the whole thing in all its glory.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “You are so weird.”

  “So I have been told.” Mason dumped ten pounds of sugar in the coffee Betty-Anne brought him. “Now, say yes.”

  I sighed, and slumped back against the booth. “Fine.”

  “Jeez,” Mason quipped. “Don't sound too excited about the prospect of having sex with me.”

  “Oh, trust me,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee. “It's all I have been thinking about.”

  Something hot flashed in Mason's eyes. I shifted in my seat, adjusting the growing hard on in my pants. Mason was watching me like he was starving, and I was his breakfast.

  “You don't quit looking at me like that then we won't make it out of here.”

  Mason shrugged. “I always liked the prospect of bathroom sex. The Diner has always been on my list.”

  I felt my mouth quirk again, but I shook my head. “I got an appointment in an hour.”

  Mason stood and slid some money on the table. I could see the buldge of his hard on through his tight pants. He slid his hand over my shoulder, down my chest, and back up again.

  “Your loss,” and with that he was gone.

  Something unfurled in my stomach—a warm sensation that I knew wasn't the hot rush of lust—this was something else. Something warm, and soft, and dammit I didn't know what to do with it.

  Grumbling over what the fuck this feeling was that was growing within me, I slammed back the rest of my coffee, and wished to God it was something stronger.

  ~ ~ ~

  I had just finished up a four hour back piece, and was cleaning up my station when I heard my phone buzz in my pocket, shedding my gloves, I looked down to see Mason's name flashing on my screen.

  I ignored the twitch in my lip that started to form into a smile at seeing his name.

  “Hear me out,” Mason said before I could get a word out. “You come over at eleven. No food. No getting to know each other. We fuck. You leave. No one gets hurt.”

  I held back a laugh. I had never met someone so determined to get fucked by me before. Sure, men and woman had thrown themselves in my direction when they wanted a taste of a 'bad boy'—someone they knew would be domineering in bed and be able to throw them around a little, but they never wanted to spend much time with me once they figured out what a surly asshole I could be. In the past I never even bothered to remember the names of those I fucked much less have an actual conversation with them. No one wanted me, they just liked the idea of me wanting them. But I knew this was different with Mason no matter how much I tried to pretend it wasn't. He didn't just want me to fuck him, he wanted to get to know me—all this boistering about him being okay with a one night stand was him meeting me halfway....well, him meeting me on my terms. He's already spent time with me; he knew what a dick I can be. Why did he want to know more? I knew Mason didn't want just a taste of the 'bad boy'. He wanted something more, something deeper. He wanted me. That thought should scare the fuck out of me, but why did it sound so goddamned intriguing?

  No, Axe. Fuck, and then leave. That's what you offered Mason and that is all you will take. You don't need to be dragging him into your fucked up mess.

  I could do that. One one night stand, and never see Mason again. Why did that idea make me want to throw my tattoo gun at the wall?

  “I'll do you one better,” I said, making up my mind. I couldn't give Mason all the hearts and flowers that he wanted, but I could meet him halfway. I could give him more than a one night stand without disrupting my no dating policy. “How about fuck buddies?”

  The line was silent for almost a full minute; I actually had to pull my phone back to see if I had lost the call. Then Mason laughed right in my ear. His sweet, light laughter rolled through me like waves.

  “And what does that entail, Axe?”

  “No dates. No staying the night. Steady bang out sessions whenever we want.”

  “'Bang out sessions'?” Mason laughed again. “Of course you would say something like 'bang out sessions'. Alright. You got yourself a deal, Axe. We'll be fuck buddies. Can we see other people?”

  That question made my skin crawl. I wanted to say 'no', there was something primal and possessive rearing its ugly head inside of me, but I gritted my teeth and muttered, “Yes.”

  “Okay.” Something in Mason's voice suggested he didn't like the answer either. “I'll see you tonight at eleven, Axe.”

  I ended the call and turned to see Mills leaning against the doorframe to my station. He was shaking his head at me, his bushy beard swinging from side to side. “Why are determined to be forever alone?”

  “Fuck off, Mills,” I said, but there was no heat to my voice.

 
He shook his head at me again, and pushed his big body off the frame. He was gone with the blink of an eye.

  Mason

  I couldn't focus on my work. I was supposed to be editing the paper for some high school kid, and providing comments to make their paper better, but my mind was not on proper spelling, and the rules of grammer; my mind was on Axe. The only thing I have been thinking about since the barbeque back in March was Axe. I thought about him bending me over the couch and fucking me so hard it moved acrossed the floor. I thought about him fucking me on my kitchen floor, reddening my ass with one of my spatulas. My fantasies of Axe were never ending. And tonight I would finally make one of those fantasies come true.

  At ten I started to get ready. I took a shower, shaving my balls and ass. I didn't know if Axe liked his men hairy or smooth so I went with what most of the men in the past had preferred. I rubbed my favorite lotion all over my body, and dressed in my favorite tight jeans that showed off my ass and bulge and my favorite faded purple shirt.

  I didn't bother with drinks or food. This was not a date. This was a fuck and go. I snorted at myself, or as Axe called them a “bang out session”.

  Promptly at eleven my door bell rang. I pulled the door open to see Axe leaning against the rail of the stairs. His hair was mussed in that carefree way of his. He had shaved, his scarred jaw smooth and inticing. He was dressed in his signature black shirt, dark jeans and scuffed up boots. His motorcycle jacket was slung over one shoulder. He looked like the love child of James Dean and Johnny Depp.

  “Who shows up on time to a hook up?” I said in jest, standing to the side to let him in.

  Axe shrugged as he pushed past me. I noticed his spicy, musky smell immediately. It was my new favorite smell in the world. He slung his jacket over the back of the couch. I noticed the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up revealing the tattoos on his arms. It wasn't the fist time I had seen the ink on his arms, but it was the first time I really looked at them. On his left forearm was a beautiful dragon with flowers, and on the inside of his forearm of the other was a goregous vampire woman with blood surrounding her mouth and dripping down to her chest. There were other tattoos on his arms, but Axe grabbed my attention before I could look at them further.